I haven't decided wether or not I'm going to stick with carb's or not. My Trans Am came stock with the 305TPI, but has since been converted to an Edelbrock 600cfm. I plan on swapping out the 305 for a 350 soon and what I can't make up my mind on is wether or not to buy a 350 block off of someone locally and convert my accessories and everything that can be swapped over to the new engine OR to save up a little more and buy a used 350TPI + wiring and accessories from Hawks. It seems like it would be about the same price no matter which way I go... but I have some questions.

If I decide to go with TPI, exactly how hard is it to convert a Carb'd car back to fuel injection with the TPI? Everything is run off of the EFI and I have no idea how much hacking into the wiring has been done by previous owners. Wiring seems like a huge pain in the *** when it comes to engine swaps. I just don't want to run into any major problems mid-swap. Also, what big perks does fuel injection have over carbeuration? Reliability and gas mileage I excpect, but what else? Just curious.

If I decide to keep my carb and swap it over, exactly what all from the 305 will convert over to the 350 with no problems? I expect nearly everything, but I'd like to make sure I know what I'm doing before I tackle this project.

The 305 has been acting up and like many of you have said to me, why use a 305 when you can get a 350. Well, if I'm going to spend the same ammount of cash rebuilding a 305 when I spend the same ammount or less on a 350.

 

As far as getting the FI engine set up back, as long as you still have all the stock components, i.e. MAP sensor, intake, harness, computer, fuel pump ect. it would be relatively simple. With the shop manual as your guide you could hook it all back up. You would have to get the proper mapping for the 350, the 305 mapping would be lean for the 350. As far as advantages, FI is easier to keep in tune, and not difficult at all to change tuning with the right software. Reliability could come into play, but I have never encountered many reliability issues using a carb. For the most part, the carb will give you more power but at the cost of fuel effiency. Personally, I would stick with a carb as it would be cheaper and easier to upgrade in the future to other engine components (heads, cams, intakes) wihtout needing to change injectors or fuel mapping. Virtually every accessory from the 305 will be a direct bolt on to the 350, you can even retain the intake and carb you have now. If you plan other upgrades in the future, the carb would be the cheaper option.

 

Well, I'm not sure if I have all of the stock components or not, but the 350TPI that I can buy from Hawk's comes with the wiring and accessories. I'm sure the computer itself is still on the car somewhere. Oh, and about the fuel pump... I am still running the electric in-tank fuel pump with the carb. Have been for a while now. Shouldn't need to change that.

I was leaning towards the carb anyways becuase although I'd like to improve fuel efficiency a little bit, I don't want to lose any of the power I've already got. I expect to gain a little more power and more fuel efficieny out of this swap because I know the 305 has more miles on it that my Odometer says and I know the 305 isn't running a well as it should.

 

Wiring is pretty simple if you get a complete take-out from somebody like Hawks who know what they're doing. It all goes to one plug for the computer (plus one if you have an automatic transmission), and another for the rest.